The Ed Sheeran Shark Jump of Thrones

Yeah. Yeah. I know. The internet already exploded with this topic and poor Ed backed away from the Twitterverse because people are asshats. Although, some of the responses were absolutely brilliant!

BUT, my blog day is Friday and “I want to write my sen-tance!”

I don’t blame Ed. If I had the chance to play in The Seven Kingdoms you can bet your sweet ass I’d be on that like a rat on a Cheeto! To the PTB over at HBO and GOT….come on! You have arguably the most popular series running on TV. The opening with Arya was MAGNIFICIENT!

Kate and I actually “Whooped!” at this scene. Then, in what I can only assume was a self-indulgent publicity stunt, we were SUCKED out of the story. You may as well have put poor Ed in a leather jacket and water skis. ** No clue what purpose that scene served other than to say “lookie we got Ed Sheeran to sing a song from the book.” Did it advance the story? Did we learn anything of value? Dunno. We were working too hard to stay in the fantasy, but then Ed Sheeran is sitting there passing a squirrel carcass on a stick.

Cameos are SOP for TV and movies. Most of the time they work. Either the appearance is disguised or character has a purpose. This scene was wholly created to let everyone know Ed is a fan of the show…aren’t we cool? Not at that particular moment.

I’m with this guy. If GOT truly wanted to give Ed a fan experience…

…he should have been a wine swilling Frey.

Do I truly think GOT “jumped the shark” and Ed Sheeran signals the ultimate demise of show quality? No. As someone trying to learn the storytelling craft by watching the good craftsmen of this show, I and many fans felt slighted by the glorified and unnecessary name dropping that was the singing soldier in the forest scene.

However, there was redemption….

He’s baaaack! Love me some Jorah!

Do you watch GOT? Did you fangirl over Ed Sheeran’s cameo? What are you looking forward to most this season?

** Origin of this phrase comes from a Happy Days episode where the Fonz (in his signature leather jacket) jumped a shark on waterskis. Thus was labeled the lowest point of the show.

“Jumping the shark” is attempting to draw attention to or create publicity for something that is perceived as not warranting the attention, especially something that is believed to be past its peak in quality or relevance.

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Jumping the shark… It was irrelevant and distracting, but maybe not even as noticeable or significant as the Fonz, dressed in leather jacket and with perfectly coiffed hair, on skis. Nah. Doesn’t rise to the level of shark jumping, in my opinion. Which is sad.

The cameo would have been much more interesting if we’d gotten some behind-the-scenes sneak peaks, or been told after the premier of S7 and had to watch a few more times to find him – Stephen Colbert in The Hobbit.